Well. It’s happened. The thing we thought might never happen: Adele‘s 21 has been knocked off the top of the Billboard chart. Sure, there’s every likelihood she’ll reclaim the throne but for now, it’s The Boss who is king. 21 has been number one for 23 weeks, but, somewhat aptly, has been smashed off the top by a Wrecking Ball. Bruce Springsteen‘s new album, after a shaky start and only 196,000 copies sold in the first week, has managed to oust Adele from what seemed like a never ending reign. If Adele wants to get back on top next week, her sales will have to outstrip new releases including The Shins’ Port of Morrow, One Direction’s Up All Night, and The Hunger Games soundtrack (which might be a hard one to beat given the prolonged hype surrounding the movie).

As if you weren’t excited enough about seeing Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band playing their new single, “We Take Care Of Our Own” live, add to that Jimmy Fallon’s giddy introduction to the performance on his show last night and you’ll be positively psyched. As usual, Bruce and the band bring high rock energy to the stage, and Bruce himself is simply charismatic. Maybe your heart is racing after watching the performance — we know ours are. Sometimes it’s hard to grasp the import of a song until you hear it live, and the life the The Boss and Band breathe into the stage is nothing less than essential to their All-American rock music. Watch it, and feel yourself being taken to the good place.

So we’ve now reached a point where there is absolutely no reason for you not to be excited about the Grammys. This morning it was announced that Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band will be joining the already impressive performance line up, so even if the pop-stars billed to play at the awards show aren’t really your thing, now you have something that is — because Bruce Springsteen is everyone’s thing. With 20 of their own Grammys safely on the trophy shelf, we’re guessing that The Boss and Band will play “We Take Care Of Our Own,” the lead single off their new album, Wrecking Ball, but you never know, we could be in for a new surprise or even an old favorite.

The Boss is back for 2012, and it seems as though everyone is waiting on tenterhooks for what is expected to be an earth shattering release from the legend. And tomorrow, “We Take Care of Our Own,” the first single off Bruce Springsteen’s new album, will be released on Amazon.com. We don’t know about you, but our excitement is palpable. Especially since Bruce’s manager, Jon Landau, told Rolling Stone the new record is a “big-picture piece of work. It’s a rock record that combines elements of both Bruce’s classic sound and his Seeger Sessions experience, with new textures and styles.”

He also says that the record has, “social overtones” and a “very pronounced spiritual dimension. It extends and deepens the vision that has animated all of Bruce’s work.” As Springsteen fans, we’re obviously elated to hear that The Boss is playing off the blue collar concerns that have characterized his music since the 70s. The album will also feature the E Street Band (for the first time without Clarence Clemons) and other musicians including Rage Against The Machine‘s Tom Morello, and Pearl Jam drummer Matt Chamberlain.

An undisclosed source has allegedly told The Hollywood Reporter of The Boss and his new record, “He gets into economic justice quite a bit. It’s very rock ’n’ roll. He feels it’s the angriest album he’s ever made. Bear in mind, though, that [Springsteen] wrote and recorded the majority of the album before the Occupy movements started, so he’s not just setting headlines to music.” As if that weren’t enough to set you on fire, Bruce is also touring with The E Street Band this year, and will appear as keynote speaker at the SXSW festival.

You know it’s going to be a good day when you wake up to news that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have announced a world tour for 2012, because that’s the day you can dream about having your own Courtney Cox “Dancing In The Dark” style moment. We’ve also turned our thoughts to the late Clarence Clemons, whose death earlier this year rocked this tight knit unit to its core. This will be the first official tour the band is embarking on without the iconic saxophone player, and we’re sure that while his absence will be felt, his legacy will be carried on with love and affection by his surviving bandmates.

With dates released for the UK leg of the tour (below), and The Boss’s European sojourn scheduled for the middle of May until the end of July, the US and the rest of the world must wait with baited breath for the rest of the tour dates to be released. If that wasn’t enough to get you into your party pants, Bruce and the band have also announced that there’s a new album in the works, although they candidly admit that “we have almost settled on the release date (but not quite yet).” Either way, there’s plenty to look forward to from The Boss in 2012, and that’s a good thing.

Clarence Clemons suffered a stroke at his home last night at his home in Florida, an AP source confirmed after an initial Showbiz411 report surfaced last night. The Showbiz411 story suggests that the stroke was extremely serious, but there has not yet been confirmation nor denial of this report.

Clemons, the legendary saxophone player from Bruce Springsteen?s E Street Band, has also had a long history of guest appearances?most recently on several tracks of Lady Gaga‘s Born This Way. He also wrote a partially fictional memoir last fall. We wish him the best in his recovery, as does Lady Gaga, who sent this Tweet out earlier this morning: